Blad met ranken met bloemen en vruchten 1783 - 1815

Paul Reimund created this sheet with tendrils, flowers and fruit using pen and watercolour in the late 18th or early 19th century. This drawing would have been part of the vast industry of ornament that fed the decorative arts in Europe at this time. Reimund was working during the transition from the Rococo to the neo-Classical style, with design increasingly regulated and professionalized. Think of it as a kind of proto-industrial design, and consider the power of institutions such as academies in shaping the visual world we inhabit. Artists like Reimund provided the raw material for luxury goods and interior design for the wealthy. Drawings like this are an important resource for understanding the social and economic contexts of art. They can tell us a great deal about the relationship between artistic creativity and the market forces that shaped it.